Saturday, December 31, 2011

Ron seems a bit wacky to me at times but he does have a lot of good points -- and if you cannot support an elected representative in Congress what the heck can you do in America?

Kelly Clarkson hit a sour note with her fans after throwing her support behind Ron Paul in the Republican presidential primary.

The American Idol winner tweeted to fans: "I love Ron Paul ... if he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he's got my vote. Too bad he probably won't."

But her praise has angered fans, who have called her homophobic and racist for supporting the congressman, who has come under fire for racially derogatory comments contained in newsletters he published around 20 years ago.

"Wow, so a pop star endorses a lunatic racist, homophobe and anarchist? Kelly Clarkson, you need to look at Ron Paul closely," one Twitter user wrote. Another added: "That's too bad that Kelly Clarkson had to open her mouth about endorsing Ron Paul."

Clarkson took to her blog clarifying: "I do not support racism. I support gay rights, straight rights, women's rights, men's rights, white/black/purple/orange rights. "I like Ron Paul because he believes in less government ... Out of all of the Republican nominees, he's my favourite."

These noose stunts usually end up being traced to blacks and Leftists trying to stir up strife

A hate crime investigation is under way after a noose was found hanging in the World Trade Center. The discovery of the historic racist symbol at a such an evocative site has sparked outrage, with one commentator saying: 'This isn't the way to begin anew.'

Although the motive behind the placement of the noose is unclear, police are treating the incident as a bias-related crime.

The noose was hung from an upper floor of One World Trade Center - also known as the Freedom Tower - at some point over the Christmas break, according to the New York Daily News. It was found on Tuesday morning tied to a stretch of regular construction rope on the 64th floor of the skyscraper, which will be the U.S.'s tallest building when it is completed.

It is not yet known who, if anyone, was being targeted by the object, as the World Trade Center has not previously been considered a symbol specific to any particular race.

Friday, December 30, 2011

More vile hate speech from Bill Maher‏

We read:

"Leftist comedian Bill Maher has always had a penchant for spouting offensive commentary. And, up until recently, the Denver Broncos were on a winning streak, with many wondering if God was playing a role in quarterback Tim Tebow’s successes. While these facts may seem completely unrelated, on Saturday, they converged when Maher sent an anti-Tim Tebow tweet that ignited a flurry of unhappy responses.

Allow me to explain the scenario.

On Christmas Eve, the Denver Broncos suffered a pretty hefty loss to the Buffalo Bills (the final score was 40-14). It seemed Tebow, who has captivated fans and media audiences over the past two months, was off of his game — to say the least.

Maher, who is highly critical of religion, found the loss entertaining enough to tweet about it. His message, which employed some pretty harsh themes, read, “Wow, Jesus just f**ked #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler “Hey, Buffalo’s killing them.”

Because Cam Newton has set the NFL on fire this season, it seems silly to think back to when scouts and experts wouldn't go near the Panthers rookie quarterback's bandwagon.

Some of Newton's critics were so harsh that his mentor, Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, believed their reviews were racially charged. But Newton wouldn't play up the race card in an interview for next month's issue of ESPN The Magazine, instead pointing to people's bias because of past failed high-pick QBs -- although there is a catch to what he says.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Does a simple Firefox add-on make SOPA useless?

SOPA is an internet censorship law presently under active consideration by Congress. The acronym is for "Stop Online Piracy Act" but it gives the government power to blacklist and block any internet site that it dislikes.

"As the world of SOPA continues to turn, the emergence of a simple Firefox browser add-on may render the potential punitive actions of these protection acts null and void; or, at least ineffective, if not outright useless.

Firefox, which already boasts an outspoken stance against SOPA, and has already shown they are willing to stand by add-on developers who create circumvention extensions designed to go around measures currently employed by Homeland Security, has welcomed a new add-on, one that is designed to circumvent whatever SOPA website blacklists that are created, provided the bills become law.

Australia's Leftist government attempting to censor news about illegal immigrants

They can't solve the problem so want it hidden

IMAGES of asylum seekers arriving to our shores by boat may be banned. The restrictions were announced after the Immigration Department successfully lobbied the Australian Communications and Media Authority to "protect the privacy of these vulnerable clients", The Australian reports (subscribers).

Under the new privacy guidelines, a person's identity would be protected even if they are in a public place. This would allow ACMA, which oversees the licenses of major TV networks, to possibly prevent the broadcasting of asylum seekers' faces.

Seven Network's Head of News Peter Meakin told The Australian: "I think it's a ridiculous provision and I suspect it is being done more for the benefit of authorities than for the asylum-seekers."

"I can understand asylum-seekers wanting privacy for the protection of their families, but a blanket ban is just the big hand of censorship," he said.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Lieberman has made attempts to get Islamic hate speech off YouTube too

"American congressmen are calling on Twitter to block Taliban propagandists from the micro-blogging site.

Senators want to stop feeds which boast of insurgent attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan and the casualties they inflict.

Aides for Joe Lieberman, chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the move was part of a wider attempt to eliminate violent Islamist extremist propaganda from the internet and social media.

The Taliban movement has embraced the social network as part of its propaganda effort and regularly tweets about attacks or posts links to its statements.

The information has ranged from highly accurate, up-to-the-minute accounts of unfolding spectacular attacks, to often completely fabricated or wildly exaggerated reports of American and British casualties.

An Australian unionist was fired after putting extreme hate speech on Facebook but a body set up by Australia's Leftist government ordered him reinstated

A union delegate sacked for lampooning a Muslim colleague as a "bacon hater" on Facebook has won back his job. Glen Stutsel, a driver with transport giant Linfox, also abused two of his managers on the social networking website.

He had been discussing the habits of bears in a Facebook chat with another employee. He also said: " ... I admire any creature that has the capacity to rip Nina and Assaf heads off, shit down their throats and then chew up and spit out their lifeless body!"

The two managers, Nina Russell and Michael Assaf, complained the comments were racially derogatory, sexual discrimination and harassment.

Linfox dismissed the 22-year veteran. But he won back his job with back pay after taking an unfair dismissal case to Fair Work Australia. Tribunal commissioner Michael Roberts found Mr Stutsel's treatment was "harsh, unjust and unreasonable".

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Conservative commentator returns fire

We read:

"Brent Bozell, a conservative commentator and guest on Fox News, was discussing bias in the media, citing how liberal MSNBC host Chris Matthews insulted Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and with little to to no backlash.

Mr Bozell took issue with the fact Mr Matthews said that Mr Gingrich 'looked like a car-bomber' in a video clip this past March. Mr Matthews repeated the comparison several times, adding that he thought Mr Gingrich has 'got that crazy Mephistophelian grin of his. He looks like he likes torturing.'

Mr Bozell then argued that similar comments would not be tolerated if said by a conservative critic. 'How long do you think Sean Hannity’s show would last if four times in one sentence, he made a comment about, say, the President of the United States, and said that he looked like a skinny, ghetto crackhead? Which, by the way, you might want to say that Barack Obama does,' Mr Bozell said Thursday.

By adding his own thoughts at the end, Mr Bozell took that theoretical example and turned it into reality.

"Scott LoBaido is clever man. He found a way to bring Christmas trees back into NYC’s transportation hubs. LoBaido designed and wore a Christmas tree costume!

After being sued for allowing Christmas decorations in bus and ferry teminals, New York City imposed a ban on Christmas trees and other holiday decorations. Scott was not pleased about the ban and managed to find a way to bring the Christmas spirit to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. You have to love the persistence of some people.

Scott told the NY Daily News that he spent about $400 on the supplies to make his tree costume. Mr. LoBaido’s website tells us that he is a self-taught artist and 4th-generation New Yorker. His artwork focuses on the American flag and in 2010, LoBaido painted the “world’s largest mural” of the Stars and Stripes. The mural covered 150,000 square feet and required 900 gallons of paint.

Monday, December 26, 2011

"The Disney Channel has pulled episodes of two of its series off the air after former Disney starlet Demi Lovato blasted the network for making light of eating disorders.

The former "Sonny with a Chance" actress spent two months in an Illinois rehab facility in 2010 to deal with "emotional and physical issues," including eating disorders and self-mutilation.

She took to her Twitter account Friday night to complain that the Disney Channel series "Shake it Up" included the joke, "I could just eat you up -- well if I ate."

The network responded on Twitter, telling the 19-year-old star it was pulling the episode, as well as an episode of its series "So Random" -- which was spun off from "Sonny with a Chance" after Lovato left the show to enter rehab.

Australian public servant fined for "disrespectful" email to a politician

Respect should be earned, not demanded

"A Public servant has been penalised $1280 for sending an email to Immigration Minister Chris Bowen which did not show enough 'courtesy' or 'respect'.

Department of Immigration and Citizenship officer Robin Reich sent the email to Mr Bowen suggesting he resign and comparing his management unfavourably with a BP executive during the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

Mr Reich said he had become disillusioned with the department after working as a compliance officer responsible for detaining suspected illegal immigrants and taking them to Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney.

Documents from an internal investigation by Immigration Department staff ruled the email breached the Australian Public Service Act code of conduct. The email: “did not treat the Minister with sufficient respect and courtesy”, was not “impartial” and was “improper use of the Department’s email system”.

Top British soccer player, John Terry, hauled into court over language on the field

We read:

"Terry learned at the end of a damp training session at Chelsea's training ground near Cobham, Surrey, that he will be brought before a district judge and charged.

The order for Terry to appear before a district judge relates to a penalty box clash with QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in October. Prosecutors decided there was enough evidence, including TV images of the incident that were beamed around the world, to put him on trial.

He is accused of calling Ferdinand a `f****** black ****' during the match at QPR's Loftus Road stadium.

But afterwards he told Ferdinand, whose brother Rio plays alongside Terry for England, that the remarks had been taken out of context, insisting he actually said: `Oi, Anton, do you think I called you a black ****?'

Terry will first appear in court next February but the case is likely to drag on for up to six months as lawyers prepare for a trial. The maximum punishment Terry faces is a œ2,500 fine, a sum he earns in just two hours and 38 minutes on his œ160,000-a-week salary.

Last night, Terry, 31, said he was `disappointed' with the decision and that he hoped to clear his name `as quickly as possible'. He said: `I have never aimed a racist remark at anyone and count people from all races and creeds among my closest friends.

"The ability of physicians to prescribe approved medicines for purposes not sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the most important elements of medical care in the United States. These “off-label” uses are perfectly legal, and doctors rely on them extensively. But the agency views off-label prescribing as an attempt to circumvent its control over the nation’s pharmaceutical supply, so a number of regulations make it difficult for doctors to learn about and prescribe drugs off-label.

The most prominent rule entirely forbids drug manufacturers from promoting off-label uses. That might change soon, however, because two different federal courts are now considering lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the off-label promotion ban. And given a string of recent Supreme Court cases affirming commercial free speech rights, one of those cases may at least partially invalidate the FDA’s restrictions.

Before a drug can be sold in the United States, it must be certified by the FDA as safe and effective for a specific, or “on-label,” use. However, once a drug is approved, physicians may legally prescribe it for any other purpose. And because medical research regularly discovers new treatment options years before the FDA can approve them, off-label prescribing enables patients to benefit from the most up-to-date knowledge.

The practice is ubiquitous in cancer treatment, cardiology, and neurology, and by some estimates, at least 20 percent of all prescriptions written are off-label. The American Medical Association says that many off-label uses are considered “reasonable and necessary medical care, irrespective of labeling.” In fact, doctors can be subject to malpractice liability if they do not use drugs for off-label indications when doing so constitutes the standard of care. That’s one reason most private health insurance plans with prescription drug benefits cover various off-label uses, as do Medicare and Medicaid.

Doctors learn about some off-label uses in medical school, and later by reading medical journals articles or hearing about them from colleagues or at conferences. But the FDA uses its authority over drug labeling and “promotion” (which includes not just advertising but virtually any communication with health professionals or patients) to prevent manufacturers from disseminating information about off-label uses, even to doctors.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Must not call blacks "colored"?

In that case the NAACP are seriously out of line

"BBC pundit Alan Hansen is the latest to come under fire in football's race row after making an embarrassing gaffe on Match of the Day. The commentator - who is paid a huge £40,000 per show - shocked viewers by twice describing black players as 'coloured' when discussing the John Terry and Luis Suarez cases.

Fellow pundit Lee Dixon looked on in apparent discomfort as Hansen, 56, said: ‘I think there’s a lot of coloured players in all the major teams and there are lots of coloured players who are probably the best in the Premier League.

‘If you look at 25 or 30 years ago it was probably in a bad way - not as bad as some of the other nations on the Continent - but certainly there is always, always room for improvement.’

The ex-footballer had been discussing the separate allegations that England captain Terry and Liverpool striker Suarez have hurled racist abuse at other players on the pitch.

ITV is a British commercial network. They obviously have some respect for their viewers -- something not to be expected from the BBC. No-one in TV would think of mocking Islam, of course, though the potential for mocking an insane pedophile is great

Australian comedian Tim Minchin has become embroiled in a Christmas controversy in the UK with a song that compares Jesus to Woody Allen. The UK-born but Perth-raised comic penned what he described as a "silly, harmless, and quite cute" tune, in which he compared Jesus to the Jewish actor and director.

The Jonathan Ross Show, which was recorded on Tuesday was due to be aired tonight (UK time). However, the song has now been cut from the show after it was sent to the ITV network's director of television Peter Fincham.

The decision has evoked a spirited reaction from the comic who has claimed ITV bosses are pandering to Christians who are "afraid of anything that challenges their beliefs".

At the start of the song, Minchin sings: "Jesus was a Jewish philosopher, had a lot of nice ideas, about our existential fears, much admired by his peers. "Short and Jewish and quite political, often hesitant and very analytical. Praise be to Jesus, praise be to Woody Allen Jesus."

Another example of lyrics from the song go: "Jesus died but then came back to life, or so the holy Bible said, kinda like in Dawn of the Dead, like a film by Simon Pegg, try that these days you'd be in trouble, geeks would try to smack you with a shovel."

Before going into the chorus: "Praise be to Jesus, praise be to magic, Woody Allen, Zombie, Jesus."

Friday, December 23, 2011

A VERY difficult issue

With the exeption of a few libertarians, no-one has ever advocated completely free speech. Libel, for instance, has always been actionable. So one could in the case below reasonably argue for the complete destruction of any of the knowledge referred to. As it is, some sort of reasonable compromise seems to be in the works but information could still leak out and get into the wrong hands

I think a libertarian compromise would be to enable a mass vaccination against the new virus and then do a full release of the information

The US government has asked the scientific journals Nature and Science to censor data on a laboratory-made version of bird flu that could spread more easily to humans, fearing it could be used as a potential weapon.

The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity asked the two journals to publish redacted versions of studies by two research groups that created forms of the H5N1 avian flu that could easily jump between ferrets - typically considered a sign the virus could spread quickly among humans.

The journals are objecting to the request, saying it would restrict access to information that might advance the cause of public health.

The request was a first for the expert panel, formed after a series of anthrax attacks on US targets in 2001. It advises the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies about "dual use" research that could serve public health but also be a potential bioterror threat.

The National Institutes of Health funded the two research labs' work to see how the virus could become more transmissible in humans, with the aim of getting early insight to contain threats to public health. The NSABB wants to keep this information from falling into the wrong hands.

But the NIH said the government was working out how to allow secure access to the information to those with a legitimate need to see it.

"It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers," the editor in chief of Nature, Dr Philip Campbell, said in a statement.

""Pussy is great by itself, but you know sharing with friends, it's nice to experiment and I would recommend sharing pussy with friends."

Where did I find these quotes? Comments posted on a porn site? Men discussing their sexual preferences perhaps? No, they're found in this promotion for an energy drink called Pussy. These words were uttered through the dazzling teeth of Sam Branson and filmed at the Kensington Roof Gardens owned by daddy Sir Richard Branson.

The video's opening frame states the company's mission is for "Global Pussyfication." It appears they are succeeding.

Three thousand retailers in the UK alone can't get enough of it. It's even in Tesco. And Selfridges. And on Virgin trains (maybe the planes are next - surely Richard Branson will see the cross-promotional opportunities in combining the company names?).

The beverage is now in 18 countries worldwide, including Australia where it can be found in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.

The porn-inspired name encourages boys and men to dissect women and see them only in terms of their sexual body parts. "Pussy is great by itself," as Branson Junior informs us, as though it is an inanimate object not connected to a real flesh and blood woman. All women are collapsed as pussy, to be shared and consumed by men.

This product is part of the widespread sexploitation of women and girls. The mainstreaming of the drink treats women and girls as objects and is part of the sexual harassment of women and girls, especially given plans to saturate Queensland with the product.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

UN backs freedom of expression at long last

Muslims outvoted:

"For the first time in more than a decade, the U.N. General Assembly on Monday condemned religious intolerance without urging states to outlaw "defamation of religions," an appeal critics say opened the door to abusive "blasphemy" laws.

The call on countries to prohibit "defamation" had been included in a non-binding resolution on combating religious intolerance passed annually by the 193-nation assembly.

The versions passed in previous years had enjoyed increasingly less support in assembly votes due to Western and Latin American opposition to the "defamation" idea. The resolution barely received a majority of yes votes in 2010.

The New York-based rights group Human Rights First welcomed the resolution prior to its adoption, describing the new version as "a decisive break from the polarizing focus in the past on defamation of religions."

"Governments should now focus on concrete measures to fight religiously motivated violence, discrimination and other forms of intolerance, while recognizing the importance of freedom of expression," Human Rights First's Tad Stahnke said.

"The editor-in-chief of a Dutch women's magazine has resigned aftehe it called pop superstar Rihanna "the ultimate n*** bitch" in an article on street fashion.

The slur sparked an angry backlash from fans of the Barbados-born singer, 23, after it appeared in the latest edition of Jackie.

Editor Eva Hoeke denied there was any racial motive behind the article, despite it reading, "She's got street cred, a ghetto ass and a golden throat. Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate n**** bitch."

She described the magazine's choice of words as a "bad joke -- to say the least" and said it "should never have happened. End of story."

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Members of the House of Representatives are being told that no holiday greetings, including “Merry Christmas,” can be sent out in official mail.

According to the Washington Examiner, members who submit official mailings for review by the congressional franking commission that reviews all congressional mail to determine if it can be "franked," or paid for with tax dollars, are being told that no holiday greetings, including "Merry Christmas," can be sent.

"I called the commission to ask for clarification and was told no 'Merry Christmas.' Also told cannot say 'Happy New Year' but can say 'have a happy new year' – referencing the time period of a new year, but not the holiday," a Hill staffer who requested anonymity told the paper.

Another Hill staffer said that "we were given that advice after submitting" a draft mailing.

A draconian law passed in Scotland yesterday blurs the distinction between hurtful words and harmful deeds

Yesterday, the Scottish National Party (SNP) pushed through a new law stipulating that people can be imprisoned for things they say.

While most of us claim to be proud to live in a liberal, tolerant society, it seems that our tolerance has limits. These limits are defined clearly in the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communication Bill, which seeks to criminalise ‘offensive’ songs and chants by football fans – especially fans of the two Glasgow clubs that dominate Scottish football, Celtic and Rangers. With prison sentences of up to five years, simply for things that are said or sung, this is one of the most draconian laws ever introduced.

The new Scottish law is the antithesis of everything that Mill, and other prominent free-speech defenders like Voltaire, stood for. The thinking behind the new law places the protection of people from offence above the principle of free speech. But instead of admitting that this is a state infringement on free speech, Scotland’s politicians have sought to justify their intervention on the grounds that words can, and do, cause real ‘harm’.

So why have Scottish government ministers decided that a bunch of football fans singing songs that have been sung for decades now constitutes a harm requiring government intervention? Why will fans who sing songs and shout chants during games become criminals overnight?

The answer lies partly in a more generalised culture in which the idea of a society of resilient, rational, robust individuals has been replaced by the notion of fragile, damaged people in need of protection from each other.

In Scotland, the idea that football fans are a thick-skinned bunch who can put up with abuse from rivals for 90 minutes every Saturday has been replaced by the assumption that the majority of fans are potential victims at permanent risk of suffering offence or psychological damage.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

It sounds like Canadian Jews are just as Leftist as U.S. ones. Will Jews ever learn not to support authoritarianism in government? Was Hitler not a big enough lesson?

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association will be among a number of groups arguing this week that the Internet should be open to all kinds of speech, no matter how repugnant. Opposing that position is B'nai B'rith of Canada, which is adamant that hate speech must be kept off the Web.

The two sides will argue their positions as interveners this week at a judicial review of a ruling that challenged the constitutionality of hate speech provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

The case arose after a human rights tribunal ruled that Marc Lemire, of Hamilton, Ont., had contravened the act by publishing an article on the Internet that was likely to expose homosexuals and blacks to hatred and contempt.

But the tribunal didn't impose the hate speech provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act, ruling they were unconstitutional.

Richard Warman, an Ottawa lawyer, then complained, alleging Lemire had engaged in activities prohibited by the act, by communicating hate messages on several websites, and sought remedies. Those found to have engaged in the discriminatory practice "wilfully and recklessly" can be fined up to $20,000.

Marvin Kurz, representing B'nai B'rith of Canada, said while his group would support some changes, such as removing the penalties, he believes the law is constitutional and the tribunal member misread it when determining Lemire's case.

"There are some forms of speech that are so bad that it's dangerous and harmful. It has to be the worst of the worst ... that we have to be protected from," Kurz said. "There's a real value in the way the law is now."

"This morning I woke up to a Google+ post from a friend featuring RickPerry's latest YouTube ad called “Strong” featuring the Texas Governor strolling up a riverbank, pausing to deliver his punchline six seconds in: “You know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.”

Eric Williams writes, “Flagged as inappropriate due to hate speech against others related to their sexual orientation. Suggest others do the same.” The Perry video is an open attack on the gay community.

I think it is clear that the point of the video is to say that there is freedom for some but not for others. And the change is all in one direction. And since the army opposed openly homosexual troops on the grounds that they would be bad for morale and cohesion, it is perfectly reasonable to say that open homosexuals should NOT be in the army. Maintaining morale and cohesion is of major importance in any military operation. So it is not hate. It is operational wisdom.

Monday, December 19, 2011

TX: Official will remove nativity scene “when hell freezes over”

We read:

"Henderson County Commissioner Joe Hall has vowed to protect a nativity scene on the lawn of the courthouse in downtown Athens, Texas. 'I’m an old country boy, you come to my house looking for a fight, you’re going to get one,' he told WFAA. 'That’s from the bottom of my heart.'

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to Henderson county officials claiming that the display violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another"

" Atheist messages have displaced most of the Christmas nativity scenes that local churches had placed in a California park for nearly six decades, and the churches say it was a coordinated attack.

Local churches have traditionally claimed 14 of the 21 display spaces to illustrate the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. But atheists got all but three of the spaces this year because of a new [rigged?] lottery system.

The Santa Monica Daily Press reported that churches had little or no competition for the spaces during the past 57 years. This year, 13 people bid for spaces, prompting City Hall to use a random lottery system to allot the spots. Two individuals got 18 spaces. One person can request a maximum of nine.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The latest Leftist hate speech

We read:

"MSNBC tried connecting GOP contender Mitt Romney to the KKK early this week, but wound up with egg on its face and was forced to apologize. Such was the embarrassment that talker Chris Matthews, the host of Hardball, called the smear “appalling.”

More interesting, however, is where the network dug up the egregious but unspoken calumny. It originated in the febrile work of a homosexual leftist. He had learned that the Ku Klux Klan once used a three-word slogan that Romney repeated last week. The offensive words? “Keep America American.”

MSNBC picked up the silly blog post, then aired a piece that clearly implied Romney keeps a white hood in his closet. But such was the outage in the report that the network retracted a scurrilous lie. Even Al Sharpton, an impressario at manufacturing false claims of racism, agree the network erred.

MSNBC tacitly suggested that should Romney take the White House, he and a group of cross-burning night riders would instigate an orgy of terror upon blacks, Jews, and homosexuals.

Host Kicks Atheist Off Show For Calling Jesus & the Nativity ‘An Insult’

We read:

"The atheists over at the Freedom From Religion Foundation aren’t ashamed to let their anti-faith message be heard loud and clear.

The Blaze has spoken with the group and heard, first-hand, just how strong-worded and offensive (to people of faith, at least) its message can be. Last night, the Fox Business Network’s Eric Bolling invited a FFRF representative onto his show to discuss the group’s anti-Christian stance.

During a dialogue with FFRF spokesperson Dan Barker (who is married to FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor), “Follow the Money” host Eric Bolling was so dumbfounded by the group’s anti-Jesus views that he ended up booting the atheist-spokesperson off of the program. Mediaite’s Colby Hall called the moment a “‘War on Christmas’ miracle!”

At the center of the discussion was a Texas nativity scene that the Madison, Wisconsin-based FFRF has been demanding be torn down immediately. During the dialogue, Barker claimed that America is not a Christian nation and that the nativity should not be present on government property. He went on to say that the nativity represents “an insult to human nature that we are all doomed and damned.”

It was this comment that commenced the uncomfortable exchange between Bolling and Barker. “Sir, I have to take exception to the way you’ve described the nativity scene. It’s not an insult. It’s certainly not an insult to me. I’m a Christian,” Bolling explained.

“It is an insult, sir,” Barker countered. At this point, the interview continued, as Bolling sought to move on to another question. But it didn’t take long for Barker to, once again, push Bolling’s buttons.

“Why was Jesus born? To save us from our sins. What an insult that we are degraded, depraved human beings — that Jesus created a hell — a place or torture,” Barker quipped. “And how would you feel if you didn’t believe that… superstition?”

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Atheists Up in Arms Over NJ Town‘s ’Keep Christ in Christmas’ Sign

We read:

"The nation’s War on Christmas controversy has reached Pitman, New Jersey, where atheists are railing against a Knights of Columbus banner that is hanging over a street in the middle of the town. The message, which reads, “Keep Christ in Christmas,” has non-believers frustrated, claiming that its presence may be a Constitutional violation.

“Unnamed residents” who live in the borough reportedly contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the well-known atheist group based in Wisconsin, to defend them against the sign’s presence (the FFRF frequently claims that “unnamed” sources are behind their threats). The group has asked the town to remove the sign.

Andrew Seidel, the FFRF’s constitutional consultant, believes that the banner should not be hanging over the town’s Main Street. “It’s a group endorsing religion over a public right of way,” he said.

The town’s mayor, Michael Batten, though, doesn’t agree. “I think it’s a sad state of affairs that our country, we kowtow to the minority and not the majority of people who like that sort of thing to stay,” he said. Batten claims that the sign is attached to private property and that it merely hangs over a county road.

According to one resident, the Knights of Columbus’ sign has been hung during the Christmas season for the past 45 years.

"IMMIGRATION Department officials will have the right to censor information gathered by journalists during a tour of the Inverbrackie detention centre today.

Strict rules have been imposed on media outlets that agreed to attend, including reporters being banned from interviewing or "engaging in any substantive communication with any detainee clients", or even moving away from their departmental tour guide.

Every second of broadcast news segments about today's visit will be checked by Immigration Department censors, using "media content review forms" to order reporters to "pixelate, mute or delete" any material that identifies people or is not in the interests of the department.

But the Immigration and Citizenship Department has defended its use of the agreements as a protection of privacy for detainees and because the practical application of the deed was not heavy-handed.

But the document also seeks to protect "the Australian Government's interests", "national interests" and the department's "responsibilities".

Newspaper Publishers' Association chief executive Mark Hollands said the deed was "appalling" because it censored final editorial content.

Friday, December 16, 2011

The British government and its instrumentalities have on occasion circulated questionnaires that asked very intrusive questions about sexuality -- Americans have no such rights, apparently

"A University of Vermont fraternity has been suspended in connection with a survey that makes light of rape.

UVM said Tuesday that it's investigating the source of the survey, who saw and how it was used. Sigma Phi Epsilon has been suspended during the investigation.

Annie Stevens, UVM's associate vice president for student and campus life called the survey incredibly offensive and inappropriate, saying it asks participants if they could rape someone, who would it be.

'Sexist' signs go at British store, as pink and blue is replaced by toy categories instead

We read:

"Pink is for girls and blue is for boys - unless you are shopping at Hamleys that is. After being accused of sexist stereotyping by feminists, the world famous London store is now organising toys by category instead of gender.

Pink and blue signs from the floors selling ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ toys have been removed from the flagship Regent Street store and replaced with gender neutral red and white ones.

Toys are now categorised by type, such as ‘arts and crafts’, ‘dress-up’ and ‘dolls’, without specifying whether they are for boys or girls.

Laura Nelson, 34, a political blogger from Ealing, in West London, yesterday described the move as a ‘victory’ after having previously accused the store of ‘gender apartheid’.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Wikipedia founder threatens to 'turn off' site as protest against U.S. anti-piracy bill

We read:

"Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has threatened a 'strike' where the entire English-language site would be turned off as a protest against an anti-piracy bill currently under discussion in the U.S. The site is used by an estimated 365 million readers worldwide, and is ranked sixth overall on earth.

Writing on his private Wikipedia blog, Wales said, 'A global strike of at least the English Wikipedia would put the maximum pressure on the US government. 'At the same time, it's of course a very very big deal to do something like this, it is unprecedented for English Wikipedia.'

The threatened 'strike' - which would black out Wikipedia in English and possibly other languages - is in response to the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is currently before the House Judiciary Committee.

Opponents of the bill - designed to protect copyright online - allege that it takes a 'guilty until proven innocent approach'. Sites such as Wikipedia, where content can be published by any user, are alleged to be at risk.

The activist group Electronic Frontier Foundation said, 'At a minimum, this means that any service that hosts user generated content is going to be under enormous pressure to actively monitor and filter that content.' 'That’s a huge burden, and worse for services that are just getting started – the YouTubes of tomorrow that are generating jobs today.'

At present, Mr Wales's proposed 'strike' has been put up for discussion on the site. There are hundreds of comments from site insiders, most of which 'Firmly Support' the action.

"Lowe's Home Improvement has found itself facing a backlash after the retail giant pulled ads from a reality show about American Muslims.

The retail giant stopped advertising on TLC's "All-American Muslim" after a conservative group known as the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program was "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

The show premiered last month and chronicles the lives of five families from Dearborn, Mich., a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim and Arab-American population.

A state senator from Southern California said Sunday he was considering calling for a boycott.

Calling the Lowe's decision "un-American" and "naked religious bigotry," Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, told The Associated Press he would also consider legislative action if Lowe's doesn't apologize to Muslims and reinstate its ads.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

India: Online uproar as state seeks social media censorship

We read:

"India has urged social network companies including Facebook, Twitter and Google to remove offensive material, unleashing a storm of criticism from Internet users in the world’s largest democracy complaining of censorship.

Telecoms and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal met executives from Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft on Monday to ask them to screen content, but no agreement with the companies was reached, he said.

Sibal denied he was promoting censorship and said some of the images and statements on social media sites risked fanning tensions in India, which has a long history of deadly religious violence.

“We have to take care of the sensibilities of our people, we have to protect their sensibilities. Our cultural ethos is very important to us,” Sibal told reporters on Tuesday.

Sibal said his ministry was working on guidelines for action against companies who did not respond to the government’s requests, but did not specify what action could be taken.

India’s bloggers and Twitter users scorned the minister’s proposals, saying a prefiltering system would limit free expression and was impossible to implement.

"An ultra-conservative 'Tea Party' group has defended its depiction of President Barack Obama as a skunk as satirical - after it was accused of being racist.

The Kansas-based Patriot Freedom Alliance came under fire for posting a photo of a skunk on its website. The caption above it read: 'The skunk has replaced the eagle as the new symbol for the president. It is half black, it is half white, and almost everything it does, stinks.'

Area president of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) Darrell Pope called the depiction a 'blatant statement of racism'.

He said: 'As far as I'm concerned it's proof of the kind of organisation that they are, which I felt it always had racial overtones in the first place.

Thomas Hymer, who maintains the website, defended the post which has now been taken down by saying: 'It's satire is what it is. Satire in a politically incorrect form.'

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

"Stag parties" or "buck's nights" for men about to get married are traditionally a bit wild but these guys pushed the limit -- thus getting one of their friends into hot water

A Tory MP who attended a stag party where guests chanted Nazi slogans has issued a second apology in a desperate bid to save his career. Aidan Burley was with 12 Oxford-educated friends, some of whom chanted ‘Hitler, Hitler, Hitler’, at a restaurant in a French ski resort.

The ‘stag’, who was seated next to the MP, wore an SS uniform and later posed giving the Nazi salute – illegal in France.

Mr Burley, the MP for Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, was filmed by journalists from the Mail on Sunday raising his glass before a fellow guest made a speech saying: ‘Let’s raise a toast to Tom for organising the stag do, and if we’re perfectly honest, to the ideology and thought process of the Third Reich.’

The MP did not raise his glass during the speech. He did appear to pay the bill for the meal, although he later said he had paid only his share.

The Nazi incident happened on December 3 in Restaurant La Fondue, an upmarket venue in the centre of the ski resort of Val Thorens.

The man in the Nazi uniform was accountant Mark Fournier, 34, who was frequently addressed by the others as ‘Himmler!’ It was his businessman brother John Fournier, 37, who gave the toast celebrating the Nazis.

As they left the restaurant, Mark and John Fournier agreed to be photographed and, without prompting, performed Nazi salutes.

Asked why he was dressed as he was, Mark Fournier said: ‘We wanted to see how a Nazi outfit in the middle of France would go down. The answer is not that well at all.’

Another said: ‘We are trying to intimidate as many people as possible. A lot have been quite offended, especially one guy who was both Jewish and gay.’

Mark Fournier has not responded to requests for comment, but his brother John told the Mail on Sunday: ‘[Mark] was dressed up in an outfit as a tongue-in-cheek laugh and there was nothing more to it than that. It was just a bunch of lads having a good evening.’

At great expense, the Leftist Australian government is building a nationwide fibre optic broadband network which nobody seems to want -- as we have a couple of quite good cable networks already. And with fast wireless broadband already starting its rollout, the fibre network will be obsolete even before it is built. Wireless access is what users are moving toward. It's more convenient not to be tied to a fixed point when you want to go on the net.

So to protect its white elephant the government wanted to restrict advertising of wireless services. Thankfully, that was seen as going too far.

NBN Co has been forced to back down on its plans to restrain Telstra from promoting its wireless internet services as a substitute for the $36 billion fibre network for two decades after pressure from the competition watchdog.

The Weekend Australian can reveal that the $11bn deal between Telstra, the government and NBN Co for Telstra to decommission its copper network and shift its customers to the new service will be revised following concerns by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission that the curbs on Telstra's marketing of its wireless services could hinder competition for wireless voice and broadband services.

Monday, December 12, 2011

'She couldn't say no': The shocking state date-rape ad pulled amid anger over suggestions that drunken victims are to blame

We read:

"A controversial state-funded date-rape ad campaign that features a woman’s legs splayed on a bathroom floor with her underwear around her ankles has been pulled after a barrage of critcism.

Sex abuse charities claimed the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board posters placed blame on rape victims themselves for getting attacked – and even their friends for not preventing it.

Rape victims said the ads forced them to relive their own attacks, and the images of the girl portrayed her as a helpless victim.

The PLCB said the campaign was intended to ‘bring the most difficult conversations about over-consumption of alcohol to the forefront and all of the dangers associated with it – date rape being one of those things.’

The ad featured an image of a woman's legs on a bathroom floor with her underwear pulled down to her ankles, and the words: 'She didn't want to do it, but she couldn't say no.'

Ms Witalec said the campaign was trying to bring attention to a serious problem, not suggest rape victims are to blame.

"We would like to introduce @PeterPhelpsMLC. Currently an upper house whip in Barry O’Farrell’s NSW state government Mr Phelps caused something of a sensation today after blasting users as “bourgeois”, “hypocrites” and telling one user to “go f*** herself.

Mr Phelps initially responded to a comment from Twitter user @Nyx2701 who said he needed “a good punch in the head” for his earlier remarks on feminism.

“@Nyx2701 go f*** yourself, commie! And you can't complain because I put in smiley ;-),” Mr Phelps wrote in reply.

Several twitter users immediately took him to task, including the Premier himself who tweeted: “There's no place for using profanities here. You can have robust exchanges (even with pol opponents) without offending community standards."

While other public figures have reacted to a Twitter furore with immediate apologies and deletion of their tweets Mr Phelps, as of yet, appears unrepentant. “…no point being in politics if it is just to ass kiss and tell people what you think they want to hear #truthsetsyoufree,” he wrote. “If people are rude to me, I reserve the right to be rude back. I'm working class lad not a bourgeois toady.”

Sunday, December 11, 2011

"The ACLU has managed to block North Carolina from issuing license plates with a “Choose Life” message because the state legislature declined to also issue “Choose Death” plates.

U.S. District Judge James Fox didn’t put it that way in his Nov. 28 injunction, but he did agree with the ACLU that the absence of an opposing plate violates the First Amendment. The problem arose because lawmakers refused to authorize the “Respect Choice” plate that Planned Parenthood wanted as part of its ongoing “Culture of Death” initiative.

The ruling prompts the question of whether every expression allowed on a license plate must be accompanied by a contrary view, sort of a Fairness Doctrine for motorists.

Tennessee also found itself in court over “Choose Life” plates in 2004 in ACLU of Tennessee v. Bredesen. In 2006, the 6th U.S Circuit Court overturned a district court ruling against the state, saying, “Government can express public policy views by enlisting private volunteers to disseminate its message, and there is no principle under which the First Amendment can be read to prohibit government from doing so because the views are particularly controversial or politically divisive.”

The court pointed out that nobody is forced to buy the “Choose Life” plates, unlike, say, New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” plates that all Granite State vehicles must bear.

The current controversy is likely to continue for years, as courts have been all over the map, with some ruling that message plates constitute a “public forum,” and others disagreeing. Twenty-nine states have “Choose Life” plates or have authorized them, according to the Winston-Salem Journal

"The Sons of Confederate Veterans is suing the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board in federal court for denying its proposed specialty license plate featuring the Confederate battle flag.

The DMV board rejected the plate 8-0 last month, after Gov. Rick Perry said on the presidential campaign trail that he opposed it. The Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed a complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court in Austin against the eight DMV board members who voted.

It's arguing its First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. The DMV says it has yet to see the complaint.

Nine other states have approved Sons of Confederate Veterans' specialty plates, but Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina only did so after the group sued. A similar suit is pending in Florida.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

"A Labour MP has been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks after suggesting Britain first Jewish ambassador to Israel had 'divided loyalties'. Paul Flynn, the Newport West MP, made the comments about Matthew Gould during a meeting with chief civil servant Sir Gus O'Donnell.

Mr Flynn's comments were widely criticised by his members of his own party as well as the Jewish Chronicle newspaper. The LabourList blog also reported that the party's leadership, including Ed Miliband, thought the comments were 'totally unacceptable'.

The party's chief whip Rosie Winterton was also reported to have called Mr Flynn in to discuss his comments.

Mr Flynn later apologised for his remarks saying he regretted the 'clumsily expressed remarks of mine that have caused anger and upset'.

"The North Carolina school principal who suspended a 9-year-old boy for saying a female teacher was 'cute' has been forced to retire over the decision.

Emanyea Lockett was given a three-day suspension from Gaston's Brookside Elementary School after he told another student his teacher was 'cute' and a substitute teacher overheard the comment, the Gaston Gazette reported.

School officials investigated the incident and found that Emanyea had done nothing wrong. The school board then gave principal Jerry Bostic one hour to stand down or face termination."

A bit harsh to fire him after many years of service but maybe he was getting senile and thus likely to make more bad judgments. My guess is that he would only have gotten a reprimand if the kid had been white.

Friday, December 09, 2011

‘It Is Inappropriate’: Anger After UConn Includes Pledge of Allegiance Before Sports Games

We read:

"Atheists and radical church-state separatists have taken particular offense to the continued uttering of the Pledge of Allegiance. To these individuals, the words “under God” have no place in the public square, even when utterances are voluntary in nature.

Now, there’s a new epicenter in the debate over the Pledge. Following the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the University of Connecticut’s interim athletic director, Paul Pendergast, decided to add the recitation as a viable way for individuals to remember both the nation and U.S. troops.

Following his decision, the Pledge was first uttered after a home football game on September 16 and the response was so positive that it was extended to all football and basketball games.

Geno Auriemma, UConn‘s women’s basketball coach, agrees with the decision to include it and has been open about his support for saying the Pledge. ”It’s like anything else, you’re gonna have people that complain about it and people that love it,” he said at a press conference last week. “And then you have the wackos that say ‘well we shouldn’t bring God into this,‘ because you have to say ’one nation under God’ right?”

The decision, which has now led to the Pledge being uttered before most athletic games, is angering fans who believe the action violates the nation’s separation of church and state sentiment. Others claim that it puts non-American athletes in an unfair position — even though these individuals are obviously studying on U.S. soil and can opt out of pledging any allegiance to the country.

Some legal experts, though they may personally disagree, claim that the university is within legal bounds — so long as the pledge remains optional.

"A New Jersey high school admits that it “inadvertently” censored Christmas songs that include the words God, Jesus, Santa, Christmas and Chanukah – in place of music that would not be “belief-specific.”

Colin Curran, a student at West Windsor – Plainsboro High School South, wrote about the incident in a Huffington Post blog titled, “Christmas, I mean Holiday, Music.”

Curran wrote that he was in charge of creating a playlist for a holiday breakfast hosted by the student council for young children. He said the student council adviser told him to avoid any holiday music that included the words God Jesus, Santa, Christmas or Chanukah.

Gerri Hutner, the director of communications for the West Windsor Plainsboro School District, confirmed the incident occurred – but said the adviser was mistaken. “There is not a ban on religious music,” Hutner told Fox News & Commentary. “Religious music is a part of the concerts we have from elementary through high school. We do not restrict music within our programs.”

Curran detailed his search for holiday songs that might meet the school’s criteria – but only came up with a handful of selections. Among those making the cut – “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Jingle Bells,” and “Marshmallow World.” “I understand that people have different beliefs, but is the mention of Santa in a song really going to change someone’s belief set?” he wrote.

But many school districts are worried about lawsuits from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and their associates – groups Cortman accused of spreading fear.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Rich British environmentalist hates popular newspapers

Compares them to Nazi death camp and wants more controls over them

Tory MP Zac Goldsmith was last night attacked for using a reference to Auschwitz to criticise popular newspapers. The environmentalist made the provocative remark – described by one fellow MP as ‘pathetically stupid’ – at a star-studded session of a Parliamentary committee investigating privacy and injunctions.

Sitting alongside actors Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan, the MP rejected arguments that newspapers should be given free rein to print stories about the private lives of famous people simply so that they sell more copies and remain financially viable.

He said: ‘No one said that Auschwitz should have been kept open because it created jobs.’

Some 1.1million people – most of them Jewish – died in the concentration camp in southern Poland during Hitler’s reign of terror in the early 1940s.

He was appearing before the joint Commons and Lords committee – separate to the ongoing Leveson inquiry into Press standards – because he had previously obtained a so-called super-injunction preventing the publication of private emails which had been leaked to the Press.

But Labour MP Margaret Hodge, a member of the Parliamentary Committee Against Anti-Semitism Foundation, expressed outrage at his use of Auschwitz in his argument. ‘I just think it is a pathetically stupid comparison,’ she said. ‘He should think before he opens his mouth and hurls insults like that. It will cause a lot of distress to people.’

Michigan's Cherry Knoll Elementary School Under Fire For Removing 'Gay' From 'Deck The Halls'‏

We read:

"A Michigan music teacher's decision to censor the word "gay" from a traditional Christmas carol is being met with a frosty response.

The teacher, who has not yet been named in any of the published reports, allegedly removed "gay" from "Deck The Halls" after 1st and 2nd grade students kept giggling during preparations for a Christmas concert at Cherry Knoll Elementary School in Traverse City. Instead of the traditional lyric, the students were taught to sing "don we now our bright apparel," according to UpNorthLive.com.

The school's Facebook page has since been inundated with reactions from infuriated parents and fellow educators. "By taking the word 'gay' out of 'Deck The Halls' you are making it a big deal, one word can have different meanings," wrote one user. "Your personal opinions should not reflect what you teach other people's children. Please teach the children the classic song the way it was written."

Another added: "Essentially, this teacher has now taught the elementary school children, including children as young as five, that gay means homosexual sex."

As UpNorthLive.com notes, however, Principal Chris Parker has said he is disappointed in the music teacher's decision to change the lyrics to the song, and the students are, in fact, now back to singing the original version.

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Must not say Muslim Arabs are antisemitic?

Diamondback is the University of Maryland's student newspaper

In the newly formed End Hate Speech at UMD coalition's first public forum, student members and supporters gathered to discuss their next course of action to solicit an apology from The Diamondback's advertising department for publishing a controversial ad.

After the advertisement called "You deserve a factual look at … Muslim Arab Anti-Semitism" for the Facts and Logic About the Middle East organization ran on page three of the paper's Oct. 19 edition, students from 24 groups mobilized to try to ensure a similar ad would not appear in print again. Many of the 100 students in McKeldin Library's special events room said The Diamondback acted unethically — and several said students should consider boycotting the paper.

In a Nov. 7 meeting with two members of the coalition, Michael Fribush, general manager of Maryland Media Inc. — the private company that owns The Diamondback — said while MMI will not apologize for the ad, it will allow the coalition to publish a guest letter in the paper or provide space for the coalition to publish a rebuttal advertisement free of charge, which the company has never done.

They found a lot of it. But what they called hate speech, others would call plain, if possibly impolite, English; terms like "illegals," "illegal aliens," and even "illegal immigrants."

The study by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center reviewed single shows by John and Ken, Lou Dobbs, and Michael Savage, all of which aired in July 2008 and discussed immigration.

The study, titled "Quantifying Hate Speech on Commercial Radio," is a preliminary attempt by professors Chon A. Noriega and Francisco Javier Iribarren to "develop a sound, replicable methodology for qualitative content analysis" of hate speech on the air.

The cursory study, which was not peer-reviewed, was intended to quantify hate speech and to fact-check claims made by the hosts and their guests.

The professors didn't stick to official definitions of hate speech (i.e., directly or indirectly fostering violence against minorities). Any use of terms such as "illegals" or "illegal immigrants" was enough to get a check mark in their hate speech tally....

Kobylt got downgraded for blaming San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for San Francisco's sanctuary ordinance, which dates to 1989, and for talking about fat Mexicans.

"The Mexican diet is what's shot up obesity rates in Los Angeles" was one Kobylt quote found false for oversimplifying obesity. "South L.A., poor people, they don't care what they look like" was another.

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

The French have got a lot to be Germanophobic about -- having been invaded by Germany three times in modern history and many times in the more remote past

The Prime Minister of France called for an end to the growing ‘Germanophobia’ creeping into debates about the crumbling Eurozone.

On the eve of a crunch Franco-German meeting in Paris, Francois Fillon said that President Nicolas Sarkozy ‘must not take lessons on patriotism from those who think they are defending our national interest by caricaturing our German allies.’

Arnaud Montebourg, a leading French Socialist, accused Merkel of 'Bismarck-style' policies, referring to Germany's ‘Iron Chancellor’, Otto von Bismarck, who humiliated France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

And firebrand Leftist MP Jean-Marie Le Guen even compared Mr Sarkozy's meeting with Mrs Merkel to the infamous appeasement saga of the late 1930s. He spoke of 'Daladier at Munich', a reference to French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier meeting German Chancellor Adolf Hitler at the 1938 Munich Conference.

The conference saw the leaders of Britain, France and Italy agree to give the Nazis the Czech Sudetenland in a failed bid to appease Hitler a year before World War II started.

Monday, December 05, 2011

A Victorian group is being blamed for anti-Islamic propaganda being distributed on the westside.

Deputy Premier and Member for Mt Coot-tha Andrew Fraser has blasted the pamphlets, distributed by QSociety.

"There is no room in Queensland for hate politics," he said. "The flyer makes a number of outrageous and false claims that the practice of Islam by many Australians threatens our food production, academic integrity in our schools, and equal access to public spaces.

"Modern Australia has a proud multicultural heritage. This kind of prejudicial rubbish has no place anywhere, let alone here in Queensland."

On Monday, QSociety organised a Brisbane visit by controversial anti-Islamist US author Robert Spencer.

Read here what QSoc's message is. It is a perfectly legitimate expression of opinion with an extensive foundation in fact. Robert Spencer is an extremely erudite scholar of Islam who provides a solid factual foundation for all that he says about Islam. His Jihad Watch site is loathed by Muslims and the Left for its constant exposure of what goes on in Islam.

"A Labour councillor is under investigation after posting a string of outrageous comments on Twitter, including scathing remarks about the attractiveness of his female opponents.

In one offensive tweet, Julian Swainson, the Labour group leader on Waveney District Council in Suffolk, said: ‘It reminds me of the council chamber game “Who would you shag if you had to?” looking at the opposing benches.’

Last night, the Tories sent a formal letter of complaint to Labour leader Ed Miliband, arguing that the communications were ‘so grossly offensive’ that Mr Swainson could have broken the law.

Mr Swainson’s messages on the social networking site included personal attacks on Tory MP Nadine Dorries, a description of the Tories as ‘evil b******s, the Dark Ages party’ and a semi-pornographic reference to Santa Claus.

Colin Law, leader of the Conservative-run authority, said in his letter to Mr Miliband that he was enclosing ‘a small six-week sample’ of Mr Swainson’s communications ‘that are so grossly offensive at least one potentially contravenes section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act’.

Under section 127, a person is guilty of an offence if he ‘sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message ..... that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character’.

Mr Law said he was including examples of comments that were offensive to women and others with ‘racist overtones’. He also accused Mr Swainson of ‘using terms of abuse for his political opponents that relate to mental disability, sexual orientation and parentage’.

Yesterday, Mr Swainson said he had removed the message about the chamber game, and added: ‘I accept that taken out of context it could be seen as offensive and I apologise for that. Things taken out of context are misinterpreted sometimes.’

Sunday, December 04, 2011

"A black college student has won the fight to keep a Confederate flag in his dorm room after school officials initially told him to take it down.

The University of South Carolina Beaufort told 19-year-old Byron Thomas on Thursday he could keep the flag up, after the freshman was told two weeks ago to remove it because of student complaints.

University spokeswoman Candace Brasseur told the Beaufort Gazette Thomas was initially asked to remove the flag because it violates a student code of conduct discouraging bigotry, but the school’s legal counsel ultimately advised the university to allow him to display the flag.

When he was first told in November to take the flag down, Thomas posted a four-minute video on YouTube saying he views the Confederate flag as a sign of Southern pride, not of racism, and was not going to remove it. The video was re-posted on CNN’s iReport, where it has been viewed more than 70,000 times.

“It’s not racist for me,” Thomas, a Georgia native, said in the video. “All it is is a symbol that I see as a sign of respect, and people don’t want to see it that way.”

Before the school relented, Thomas said he felt his First Amendment rights were being violated, and said he considered legal action if he was not allowed to display the flag.

"A North Carolina school has apologized after a teacher complained about a religious message found inside an Operation Christmas Child project. Our intent was not to offend anyone,” said Ira Trollinger, superintendent of McDowell County Schools in Marion, NC.

Trollinger said students at Glenwood Elementary School were preparing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, part of a community service project.

Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, an organization run by Franklin Graham. They expect to send more than 8 million shoe box gifts to underprivileged children in 100 countries. Around 60,000 churches and 60,000 community groups in the United States are participating.

As part of the project, the school children received a questionnaire that asked students to fill in the blank: “I love Jesus because ______.”

A part time tutor at the school complained about the questionnaire arguing that it crossed the line and may have violated the First Amendment rights of students.

Trollinger told Fox News & Commentary that no children complained and no parents complained – just the part time tutor.

Nevertheless, the single complaint launched a flurry of apologies and phone calls. Trollinger said they called teachers together to remind them of the rules governing religion and public schools.

“We can’t support one religion over the other,” he said. “So many of us are Christian, but in our setting we will try to make sure we respect all religions.”

The school hopes to continue participating in Operation Christmas Child but Trollinger said in the future they will not participate in the survey involving the “Jesus” question.

Saturday, December 03, 2011

WTF is a "holiday" tree? It's meaningless. There is no tradition of such a thing. This just seems like childish attention-seeking to me.

Atheists are less-than-pleased following Chester County, Pennsylvania’s refusal to allow a “holiday” Tree of Knowledge on the county’s courthouse lawn. This is the second year in a row that officials have denied the request.

Last month, Margaret Downey, the group’s president and founder, wrote a letter — complete with 350 signatures from supporters — to Chester County commissioners asking for permission to place the tree on government grounds. Last week, local leaders told Downey that she and her group would not be able to do so.

According to the Daily Local News, the atheist tree was allowed from 2007 until 2009. Rather than using Christmas ornaments, non-believers would decorate the “Tree of Knowledge” with their favorite “non-theistic” book sleeves.

In a 2010 vote, the county decided to stop allowing holiday displays from various groups, with local leaders pledging to create and maintain a festive display of their own.

The county display last year included Santa in a sleigh, a toy train, banners proclaiming “Peace on Earth” and “Seasons Greetings,” and a wreath honoring military service members, as well as a traditional creche and a menorah.

The county’s refusal to allow the tree is creating angst among non-believers. ”We just want our citizenship to be recognized and the community to understand our diversity,” Downey explains.

An advertising campaign encouraging shoppers to “Buy American” has been banned in Seattle for being too political. King County, which includes Seattle, rejected local nonprofit organization TAP America’s attempt to run the ads on the sides of buses, citing county policy against ads expressing a view on “matters of public debate about political, religious or social issues,” the Seattle Times reported.

TAP America — which stands for “Tolerance, Americanism, Patriotism” — had sought to place the ads starting this week, concentrating on bus routes that run through downtown Seattle shopping districts, according to the Times.

Mark Bloome, the Seattle philanthropist who founded the organization this year, said he was similarly baffled by the county’s rejection. “We’re not political,” Bloome said. “We’re just trying to keep the light of liberty alive as the economy spins down, and the only answer I have seen is to buy American.”

He added that it was absurd that the county would accept ads for clothing made in China but denied a “Buy American” ad.

But a King County Metro spokeswoman defended the decision to reject the ads, calling the “Buy American” concept “an issue of both political and economic debate.”

Friday, December 02, 2011

"Most people who have watched or read Ann Coulter know that she isn’t afraid to make her opinions known. In a rare appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today, Coulter held little back. In fact, the show’s producers clearly found her words so inflammatory that they bleeped them out for a total of 13 seconds.

Apparently, the conservative commentator called Arizona Sen. John McCain a “douche bag.” Following a few elongated bleeps, Coulter said, “What did I say? Oh, douche bag.” Host Joe Scarborough responded, saying, “Just blur it all out.”

So far, MSNBC hasn’t uploaded the clip, although Politico has grabbed and posted it for curious readers.

Of course this wasn’t the only awkward moment during her brief appearance. She later referred to the deceased Ted Kennedy as “human pestilence.”

Advising jurors about their legal rights is “not protected by 1st Amendment”?

We read:

"Advocating for a controversial legal tactic known as jury nullification can get U.S. citizens prosecuted for jury tampering, according to one Manhattan prosecutor who’s pursuing that very charge against a 79-year-old former chemistry professor.

Indicted last year, all Julian P. Heicklen says he was doing is handing out pamphlets from the Fully Informed Jury Association near a courthouse. ...

Manhattan prosecutor Rebecca Mermelstein argued in a recent court filing examined by the paper that because he hoped to 'target prospective jurors,' he was 'tampering with the legal process.'"

Most jurors don't know that if they don't like the law under which someone is prosecuted they are perfectly entitled to find the person not guilty regardless of the evidence. It's a right that goes back hundreds of years.

When there are so many laws that everybody is guilty of something, it's an important safeguard against unfair prosecution -- so the legal system does its best to prevent knowledge of that right getting out. But Heicklen hands out pamphlets outside courthouses that tell people of that right.

He is a dedicated enemy of big government who puts his money where his mouth is: A genuine American hero. He is clearly protected by both provisions of the first amendment: Free speech and freedom of the press.

"Interfering" with a jury means corrupting them -- not telling them of their legal rights. Every judge would be interfering with a jury if that were so.

Thursday, December 01, 2011

" The battle over holiday versus Christmas trees continues to rage on. First, an epic battle was underway in Wisconsin. Now, Rhode Island is the new epicenter, with the state’s governor deciding that “Christmas” isn’t an inclusive enough title.

On Tuesday, the state’s top leader said that lawmakers upset with his decision to call the blue spruce erected in the Statehouse a “holiday tree” instead of a “Christmas tree” should focus their energy on feeding the poor. [What??]

According to Gov. Lincoln Chafee, calling the tree a “holiday tree” instead of a “Christmas tree” is in keeping with Rhode Island’s founding in 1636 by religious dissident Roger Williams as a haven for tolerance, where government and religion were kept separate.

But critics of Chafee’s seasonal semantics said the independent governor is taking political correctness too far – and defying the will of the Legislature.

In January, the House of Representatives passed a symbolic resolution declaring that the tree customarily erected this time of year be referred to “as a ‘Christmas tree’ and not as a ‘holiday tree’ or other non-traditional terms.”

Chafee isn’t the first Rhode Island governor to refer to the annual Statehouse tree as a `holiday’ tree. His predecessor, Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri, used both `holiday tree’ and `Christmas tree’ in his correspondence.

The 17-foot Colorado blue spruce at the center of the holiday hullabaloo was donated to the state by Big John Leyden’s Christmas Tree Farm in West Greenwich, R.I. Tree farmer John Leyden said he‘s disappointed with Chafee’s yuletide word choice. “It’s not a holiday tree or even an `X-mas’ tree,” he said. “We’re a Christmas tree farm, that’s what the name is.”

Banned, the British lingerie advert that was 'too sexy' for the side of a bus

The usual "for the children" cry. Unmentioned is that British kids get sex education in their shools which is WAY more explicit than the ad above. And the fact that the complainants grumbled about the ad "objectifying women" tells you who they were: The boiler-suit brigade. No-one would objectify them!

A lingerie advert for Marks & Spencer has been banned for being ‘overtly sexual’. The advert, shown on the side of double-decker buses, pictured a woman on a bed with her legs apart, back arched, one arm above her head and the other touching her thigh.

Fifteen people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about that image, and another for the store.

They said the adverts for the Autograph range of lingerie ‘objectified women’ and were unsuitable for buses as they were ‘sexually suggestive’ and could be seen by children.

The ASA cleared one advert showing models in less suggestive poses, saying that children would ‘understand the poster was advertising lingerie and, as such, the models would not be fully clothed’.

But it said of the other advert: ‘We considered that the image was of an overtly sexual nature and was therefore unsuitable for untargeted outdoor display, as it was likely to be seen by children. We concluded that the advert was socially irresponsible.’

Is the American national anthem politically incorrect? From the 4th verse:Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

Mohammad

The truth can be offensive to some but it must be said

"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."

Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

The double standard: Atheists can put up signs and billboards saying that Christianity is wrong and that is hunky dory. But if a Christian says that homosexuality is wrong, that is attacked as "hate speech"

One for the militant atheists to consider: "...it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" -- Thomas Jefferson

"I think no subject should be off-limits, and I regard the laws in many Continental countries criminalizing Holocaust denial as philosophically repugnant and practically useless – in that they confirm to Jew-haters that the Jews control everything (otherwise why aren’t we allowed to talk about it?)" -- Mark Steyn

Voltaire's most famous saying was actually a summary of Voltaire's thinking by one of his biographers rather than something Voltaire said himself. Nonetheless it is a wholly admirable sentiment: "I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". I am of a similar mind.

The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.

Why conservatives should not respond to Leftist abuse: "Never wrestle with a pig, because you'll both just get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

The KKK were members of the DEMOCRATIC party. Google "Klanbake" if you doubt it

A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.

Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.

Categorization is a basic human survival skill so racism as the Left define it (i.e. any awareness of race) is in fact neither right nor wrong. It is simply human

Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?

If any mention of racial differences is racist then all Leftists are racist too -- as "affirmative action" is an explicit reference to racial differences

Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862

Gimlet-eyed Leftist haters sometimes pounce on the word "white" as racist. Will the time come when we have to refer to the White House as the "Full spectrum of light" House?

The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand

Mostly, a gaffe is just truth slipping out

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."

"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica

Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

I despair of the ADL. Jews have enough problems already and yet in the ADL one has a prominent Jewish organization that does its best to make itself offensive to Christians. Their Leftism is more important to them than the welfare of Jewry -- which is the exact opposite of what they ostensibly stand for! Jewish cleverness seems to vanish when politics are involved. Fortunately, Christians are true to their saviour and have loving hearts. Jewish dissatisfaction with the myopia of the ADL is outlined here. Note that Foxy was too grand to reply to it.

There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)

NOTE: The archives provided by blogspot below are rather inconvenient. They break each month up into small bits. If you want to scan whole months at a time, the backup archives will suit better. See here or here